10 eLearning Strategies to Create Employee Development Training

To retain and nurture talent and to remain competitive, organizations constantly invest in training. Today’s rapidly changing business dynamics demand quick skilling or upskilling.

While many organizations predominantly use the facilitated, face-to-face ILT sessions, a significant percentage of organizations use eLearning to offer employee development training. From a “good to have” mode, eLearning is fast becoming the preferred mode of employee development training and performance enhancement.

The last 5 years have seen dramatic shifts in the way eLearning strategies are transforming learning and impacting employee performance. In this article, I outline how appropriate eLearning strategies can help L&D teams offer highly customized training that can keep pace with dynamic business demands. I also share the key benefits of this approach and list the eLearning strategies that can help you maximize the impact of your employee development training.

What are the Key Triggers for Wider Adoption of eLearning for Employee Development Training?

In contrast to the facilitated, face-to-face ILT sessions, eLearning has an edge on account of the following aspects. eLearning based employee development training:

1. Aligns to the way modern learners want to learn.
2. Provides anytime, anywhere access to learning (across devices, at office, during commute, or over weekends).
3. Empowers learners as it can be consumed at their pace.
4. Aligns to learners’ preferences (device of their choice or learning assets that suit their interests).
5. Matches the varied learning styles (can be offered in different formats to suit diverse learner profiles).
6. Offers personalized training.
7. Is scalable (can be re-adapted quickly across geographies).
8. Provides ease of updating and re-deployment.
9. Is economical than ILT sessions. It can reach a wider audience group in a shorter time while providing a consistent message.
10. Can be easily tracked (for the time taken, completion rates, as well as analytics on engagement, assessments, and so on).
11. Tracks learner analytics and uses the cues to assess the impact and ROI.
12. Fosters Self Directed Learning.
13. Promotes Social Learning and establishes communities of learning.
14. Encourages a culture of continuous learning.

How Can You Leverage eLearning to Make Employee Development Training More Effective?

Adopting the eLearning-based approach makes the investment for employee development training an effective and scalable method.

While the initial investment in eLearning-based approach is high, yet it provides a better ROI for employee development training on account of its ability to offer:

• Flexibility (can be taken on the go).
• Scalability.
• Custom trainings for different levels and roles.
• Personalised trainings.
• Avenues that address the needs and expectations of today’s multi-generational workforce.

What eLearning Strategies Can Help You Create High Impact Employee Development Training?

There are a wide set of eLearning strategies that you could adopt. My recommendations include 10 eLearning strategies that will help you:

• Keep the learners engaged.
• Ensure knowledge acquisition happens.
• Facilitate the application of the acquired learning on the job.
• Accomplish the desired performance gain.
• Achieve a positive ROI on training spend.

1. Microlearning: Short, bite sized trainings that can be consumed on the go and help learners achieve a small goal each time is the new normal. You can use this approach for formal training (multiple nuggets connected in a learning path) or as Learning aids (Performance Support intervention that are available within the learner’s workflow and provide support at the moment of their need). Microlearning can be used to promote Self-Directed Learning as well as to support ILT/VILT.
2. Video Based Learning (Videos and Interactive Videos): Video is a high impact medium and Video Based Learning can add value to your learning strategy at many levels. You can use them for both formal training as well as for Performance Support intervention. The Next Gen avatar, Interactive Video, enables you to have highly interactive learning interactions and assessments. They are a great fit for trainings like Leadership Development and Sales Enablement.
3. Mobile Apps for Learning: You can opt for Apps to impart learning, especially for initiatives that have on-going updates.
4. Gamification: You can increase the engagement quotient by using Gamification techniques that can be applied to pretty much most of your corporate training needs. An extended application can help you meet the tougher mandate of behavioral change. You can use Gamification techniques for most of the corporate trainings including, Induction and Onboarding, Soft Skills, Professional Skills, Sales training, and so on. Increasingly, Gamification is being used for Compliance trainings too.
5. Scenario Based Learning (SBL): This is a powerful Instructional approach and you can use it across corporate trainings (Compliance, Soft Skills, and even Application Simulations). You can also use them to drive the right behavior.
6. Storytorials or Story Based Learning: Similar to Scenario Based Learning, stories are a great way to create a sticky learning experience. This approach is versatile and can be used for a majority of corporate trainings. They are a great approach for Change Management or Awareness initiatives.
7. Branching/Complex Decision-Making Simulations: An extension of Scenario Based Learning, you can create complex, decision making scenarios to help build decision making skills in learners. The journey helps them understand the impact/consequences of their decisions. You can have branching scenarios that are based on choices learners make at specific decision-making points. This approach is useful for Sales Enablement and Leadership Development training.
8. Personalization: Combination of eLearning and granularity of Microlearning enables you to create highly personalized learning paths. These custom pathways can be created based on role, geography, current proficiency, or learners’ interests. This approach can create a much higher impact training as the learner gets to see highly relevant and specific content.
9. Curation and User Generated Content: Providing learners access to repositories that have relevant content that is curated by Subject Matter Experts is a boon. This can be personalized too, and goes a long way in fostering a culture of continuous learning. You can further increase learner participation by enabling them to contribute to the knowledge base.
10. AR/VR/MR: These techniques offer highly immersive learning experiences. However, they are expensive to implement and have longer development cycles. Instead, you can use them as a short nugget in an overall learning journey. This is easier on the budget and uplifts the engagement quotient for learners.

I hope this article gives you good insights on how you can leverage the featured 10 eLearning strategies to create employee development training.

If you have any specific queries, do contact me or leave a comment below.